The llonganissa from Vic or the pa de fetge from Cerdanya are sausages whose popularity transcends the borders of the regions where they are made. They are part of the identity of these places and their promotion is key so that a culinary culture that is hundreds of years old does not disappear. It is not an exaggeration, because it has happened on other occasions.
An example is the terregada. Made with blood and offal cooked with sofrito and rancid wine, it was the most characteristic dish of Western Vallesan cuisine of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And one day, poof!, cooking stopped and it evaporated from the menu of the inhabitants of that area. Its story could have ended at that moment, but it did not happen that way thanks to two people from Tarragona: chef Artur MartÃnez, at the head of the star restaurant Aürt (Barcelona), and master charcutier Xavier Casanovas, of Casanovas Selecció (Terrassa).
Above all, it was the determination of the first that prevented the terregada from falling into oblivion. MartÃnez realized that the majority of Catalan regions had their own gastronomic product, from Priorat to Pallars Sobirà . “But I observed that this did not happen in Vallès Occidental, perhaps because it is a region with an industrial fabric,” says MartÃnez. So he decided to investigate the territory, its traditions, the recipes that were typical there. “And I found that terregada was the most documented dish,” the chef explained to the Comer channel.
He had already helped in the recovery of the becaruda olive, a native fruit of the regions of Baix Llobregat and Vallès Occidental, whose low production was about to condemn it to extinction; and in that of some centuries-old Macabeu, Sumoll and Xarel vines from the Can Morral del Molà estate. But with the terregada, the challenge was greater. “I came across a casquerÃa dish that was going to be difficult for today’s people to accept.”
He wanted it to be a popular product, so he decided to adapt it and turn it into a sausage. That’s when he started working with master charcutier Xavier Casanovas, the 4th generation at the head of a family business with more than a century of history, and in 2009 they launched botifarra terregada on the market.
It is made with pork entrails, onion, tomato, garlic, almond, rancid wine, salt and black pepper; and it is a totally natural sausage, without additives. The chef explains that it is ideal to eat raw, or sliced ??and grilled, “because this way it gains flavor,” and a little bit of aioli.
Other recipes that have been made with this sausage are a pintxo with a base of Munt coca (another native product of Terrassa) and a grilled botifarra; and a Vallesan trinxat and an escudella. It can also be used for stuffed squid or masked potatoes.
The terregada botifarra recipe was put in the hands of the Gremi de Xarcuters de Terrassa, “but above all it has been Xavi who has promoted it,” explains Artur MartÃnez. It is also sold in some stalls at the Mercat de la Independència and the Mercat de Sant Pere de Terrassa. “It has been well received, although there has been a need for more restaurateurs to support the project, incorporating the product into their menus.”
And MartÃnez considers that the promotion of this type of products is very important. “If they are lost, part of the culinary wisdom and culture is also lost. They are elements that create wealth, for the local and the visitor, who have the ability to make the territory known,” he insists. “They also take us away from standardization and offer us the possibility of enjoying and surprising ourselves.”
The Aürt chef explains that Catalan cuisine is many cuisines together, that each region has its own. “And that is precisely the grace of him,” he concludes.
